The Seven Days of Peter Crumb by Jonny Glynn (1-Apr-2008) Paperback

by Jonny Glynn

Intelligent, wry, and seriously twisted, Peter Crumb is a man who suffers two personalities, only one of which is capable of remorse. His life has been derailed by a single, devastating act of violence, and now, in what he intends to be his last week on earth, he is determined to leave his mark upon humanity—randomly, unjustly, with infinite attention to detail. Allowing the morning's newspaper headlines to loosely dictate his actions, Crumb sets out on a weeklong descent into hell, determined to drag as many as possible into the darkness along with him.Gritty, dazzling, and profoundly disturbing, Jonny Glynn's The Seven Days of Peter Crumb is an extraordinary debut that portrays the deterioration of a severely splintered soul.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Crime, Dark, Thriller, Novels

Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blurbs say rash stuff like "the British American Psycho" or "makes American Psycho seem like The Lion King". Well, I just got my gruesome-ometer out of the cupboard and changed its batteries - the little red light is on so let's see... when I place The Seven Days of Peter Crumb inside the scanning device, and press GO.... ah yes, here we are.... 43.7 out of 100 on the gruesome scale. Now let's compare that with American Psycho...one moment.... I have to use oven gloves when I handle that book.... okay, here goes.... BLAM! FZZZZ! SSSSSTTTT..... Oh damn, Bret Easton Ellis's masterwork broke my machine completely. Just like last time. Fancy me not remembering.

So let's rephrase the blurb - "American psycho makes this - and every other wannabegruesome novel - look like afternoon tea with the Archbishop of Canterbury and Stephen Fry."

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was torn between three and four stars.
I couldnt put the book down (hense the four), but I felt that if I put up four stars, then people would get the wrong opinion of me. This book is really freaky, really graphic, and really psychotic. (Similar in vein to The End of Alice, stuff we just really shouldnt enjoy reading about) So I considered giving it three, but then I thought, to hell with it... it was a well written novel, and totally held my attention the entire time. Kudos to Jonny Glynn for that!

Meet Peter Crumb. A man tormented by another man -- himself. Peter has two personalities. One has a sense of right and wrong, one does not. He has decided this will be his last week on earth, and goes on a murderous rampage, allowing the days headlines to dictate his actions.

Graphic descriptions galore, from the way he rates his morning dumps, to his internal conversations, to the way he kills and disposes of his victims.

Poor Poor Peter Crumb.
Not for the weak of stomach and defintely not for those easily offended.

This book, however, IS for those who like to be gripped from page one, pulled into the storyline, yanked left, right, up and down, inside and out, and who enjoy a front row seat to a complete and total mental breakdown.

[Elyse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretentious, pretentious, pretentious. Glynn's writing is not strong, but pretends to be. I really wish it had been better. I had high hopes.

[Elizabeth Maidment · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book does have some major violence, but if that's not your thing don't read it..! I found Peter Crumb to be eloquent, delicate and at times, pretty endearing and funny! The Bristol stool chart ratings, and the wonderful descriptions (especially of the prostitute) had me in stitches.

The tension when he was alone with anyone had my heart racing, and the struggle between the two sides to his psyche was so sad. I think we found out enough about his past and his fall from grace for it not to overpower the story.

I loved it!!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

Warning - This book is morbid and disturbed yet enticingly gripping and fascinating! You'll surely be hooked, entertained and almost disgusted with yourself for enjoying it.

I have to admit, I am a bit of a lover of all things dark including horror books and films so when Amazon recommended me this novel based on my previous novels; the synopsis appealed to me greatly.

The book follows what will be the last seven days of Peter Crumb - a thoroughly disturbed individual who has a very very dark side to him. You follow his persuits and come to know more into the life of this entriguing man. The story hints that there is more to this man than what meets the eye and the writing is so fantastically structured that you want to keep on reading just so you can get to grips with what's going through Peter Crumb's head. I think some people will critisise that there is a lack of moral centre, but I think that's part of it's characteristics - it's made to make you question your own morality and is there actually a part of Peter Crumb that we can all relate to from time-to-time or he is really just a morbid murderer that should recieve no human empathy?

This book is definitely not for everyone - as you may have gathered there are a lot of highly brutal scenes described with some menace so if you are of the faint-hearted variety of person; I would give this book a pass. If you're looking for a short yet entertaining and intriguing read though, I would highly recommend it... as long as you can stomach violence!

[Leanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book because the title caught my eye. I do that a lot, and often I'm disappionted. But not this time. "The Seven Days of Peter Crumb" is a disturbing book about a man in the midst of a mental collapse brought on by terrible personal loss. He plans to kill himself in a week, but before he goes, he means to cause as much grief for everyone else as possible. I love the prose style, love the character, love the disquiet reading this book made me feel. Critics have compared Peter Crumb to Patrick Bateman from Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho," and the comparison isn't unjust. I've always felt that Patrick Bateman was played for laughs, though, and Peter Crumb is serious. Dead serious. Great read from a first time novelist. I look forward to more of Jonny Glynn's work.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book because the premise was fascinating: a severely mentally ill man going on a violent binge over what he plans to be the last 7 days of his life. Almost every page had something very graphic, thoroughly nauseating, and a bit exploitative at times, so if you are easily disturbed, you'd be better off leaving this one on the shelf. Experiencing Peter's illness, deterioration and disgusting urges literally turned my stomach at times, but psychosis ain't pretty. I felt like had to ride through his wretched days, just because the primal part of me wanted to witness what was sure to be his equally horrid--and much deserved-demise. I won't say any more, because I don't want to spoil it. As long as you can stomach it, Seven Days is worth the read.

[Sarafina Kain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came in with zero expectations.
I loved this book.

[mimi (depression slump) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Moral of the story: murders are not that bad if they save a kid by accident once in a while.

↠ 2 stars

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

I expected something much more shocking.

[AndrewR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brutal but brilliant dissection of grief. Amazing balance of searing wit, horror and loss. Genius, if not for the faint hearted.

[Gemma · Rating 3 out of 5]

wtffff weirdest book I’ve ever read a complete mind fuck

[Lisa - *OwlBeSatReading* · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is savage and morally wrong. I laughed far more than I should have. I’ll never forget the squirrel/scone incident.

Absolutely horrible.

So obviously I loved it! 😬

[Spence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bad writing, violence for the sake of violence, too British, etc. etc.

[Kandice · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely appalling. I have a pretty strong stomach, I have watched Dexter so violence isn't the issue. However, this book takes it to a whole other level.

It's just gratuitous, graphic descriptions... starting with his explosive diarrhea and hand wiping.
Second page in:
"I bolted for the toilet, my bowels voiding. Sloppy, no solid pieces, just a cloudy smattering of unctuous yellow viscosity, spat out of my arse all over the bowl, quite disgusting. The vile fetid stink of faecal waste was all about me, inside out. I can taste it. Then I found I had no toilet tissue. I didn't panic. I squatted in the bathrub. Ran my arse under the tap and used my left hand. All in all, quite refreshing.

By the third page, he's fantasizing about raping the cleaning woman and rationalizes that women enjoy rape and then some peoples uncles break them in for this..
By page 4 he's masturbating watching her clean, and then his split personality orders him to eat his semen. WTF..

"Oozing thick globs of the ivory white, sticky and clean between his thumb and forefinger... shoved his hand in my mouth and ordered me to lick the spunk from my fingers. I dutifully obeyed him and greedily gobbled and licked his gummy fingers clean. They tasted of, marmalade?"

A few pages later he's beating someone to death..
"Wallop! I swung my arm with all my might and buried that hammer right in her face, just above her left eye. I swing it with all my heart and soul and smashed it straight through her skull and buried it in her brain- mashing it into a pulp. She went down and lay there, contorted and tangled. Twitching. Thick dark black blood pouring out of her. I watch her silently dying. Get on with it, I thought, die. I lifted the hammer and clattered it down into her face a second time. Her skull split in two. Her skin was ripped and her features deformed and broken and mutilated. There you are, I thought. You're dead now, and that's that."

It's as if the author jotted down every cringe worthy thing he can think of to insert just for shock value and then tied it all together. To run with this shock value content for an entire novel (did not finish, gave up at page 12 but I know from other reviews it gets worse) tells me Jonny Glynn has no real ability for writing a story of merit or have any respect for literature. Disgusting doesn't even cover it. The author needs psychiatric help more than he needs to fill the minds of readers with this "diarrhea" he had the audacity to call a book.

Shame on you bro,
Put the pen down and and pick up trash for a living since you love garbage so much.

I bought this a thrift store, and I can't imagine subjecting anyone else to this drivel so I have torn it up and it sits in my fireplace for the next fire.

ZERO STARS

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

DO NOT READ THIS BOOK. That is an honest warning for anyone who thinks they're interested. If you read this book and are horrified and disgusted, don't blame me. I told you not to read it in the first place!
That being said...
There are rapes, murders, and every sorts of perversion described in fearful detail on practically every page of this book. That part is absolutely disgusting.
The fascinating part of the story is that the main character has several personalities (one of which another personality can actually see as a separate person, which is creepy as heck), and if you track the pronouns and the personal habits as you read, you can tell which personality has the body at any particular moment. That way, you can tell what's going to happen. There's one exquisitely creepy passage in which the main character visits his ex-wife. The whole time, you're thinking, "Oh, please don't kill her. Please don't kill her. Please don't kill her." If you can figure out which personality has the body, you'll know what's going to happen.
To tell the truth, I feel like I need to clean my brain with a little Clorox. Take heed, and don't put yourself in the same position!

[Kol Anderson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book starts out as a kind of mixture between American Psycho and Chuck Palahniuk's works only the whole thing felt a little forced. I couldn't even feel for the character until half the book but that's fine. Either way things pick after the 50% mark and it actually gets better flow, and though I like the plot going forwards I just don't think it was monumental. The ending yes, it was different. Very different but I don't think I should form my opinion of a book on the ending alone. The whole Noir-book writing style was very forced, use of useless thesaurus words and too many adjectives at times, and constantly talking about shit and pubes and all was just as forced.

[Allison Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

The premise of this book was interesting - a man is going to kill himself in seven days, so he lives each of his last days according to a newspaper headline. This means his days were filled with abuse, murder, and drugs. Along with a traumatic incident from his past, Peter Crumb is struggling with an alter ego who convinces him to do bad things. He has many quirks - some are twisted, but some are endearing, such as telling the time by compass directions. The writing style, however, was hard for me to get used to, and I feel like the ending wasn't really worthy of all that had been built up.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I interpreted this as a rather extreme depiction of schizophrenia.. Crazy man on a rampage. While it was certainly interesting to read his thought processes, the disturbing factor overshadowed that for me. I had hoped there would be even a slight bit of psychology in this, so that's why it was a let down. If you're looking for a gruesome and scary book, this is the one. It's more gross than Haunted by Palahniuk.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Please insert blood curdling scream here.
This book started out as revolting then became creepily fascinating. The main character has motivations that are completely insane yet they disturbingly become more sensible to you as you read the book.
The ending was amazing and I was really surprised at my reaction.

[Kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

So ... This book. I don't really even know where to begin.

The whole time I was reading it, I had so many "What the fuck?!?" moments. Some people compare it to American Psycho, but I think Patrick Bateman was a better character overall than Peter Crumb. (Please note that I don't think Patrick Bateman is a better person ... Quite the opposite, actually.) This book gives you that surreal feeling of getting inside the mind of an extremely disturbed (and disturbing!) individual, though.

One of the biggest differences (at least to me) is that Peter Crumb isn't a complete narcissistic sociopath. He's really just kind of sad. And, while he definitely does (and thinks) a lot of really depraved, horrible shit throughout the book, he seems like he's just someone who has completely given up on life.

I wouldn't say that he's a sympathetic character, but there is a clear line leading from a personal tragedy (though the details are never completely given) to who he has become. It's almost like a superhero villain origin story.

So ... Did I like it? Well, it kept me reading and wondering where all of this would end ... So I thought it was enjoyable. It's dark and fucked up, but it didn't leave me feeling like I was going to vomit like American Psycho (the book, not the movie).

[Zahava (pallor17reads on YouTube) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked this book and found it gripping. I had initially put it down, thinking that I may have too hard a time getting into it, but that, as it turned out, was because I wasn't at all rested. A couple of days later, and much more awake, I did pick it up again, and found that I really enjoyed the writing style. For me it was a page turner. The pacing was on point. It is a vulgar, graphic, and titillating novel. I would love to see it made into film. Don't let the negative reviews fool you. Take a chance on it yourself before you dismiss it. I gave this book 3 stars because though I thoroughly enjoyed it, it is a book that I would part with eventually without worrying too much. My only regret is that I didn't immediately annotate it or take down some reading notes.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good example of the mystique de la merde subgenre so thoroughly explored by writers such as Jim Thompson among others.

If you are a fan of this type of crime and psychological fiction you'll enjoy this book, if not you may be repelled by the content. As a general rule, Soccer Moms and those with an overweening sense of morality (SJWs, ANTIFA, and the Social Justice types in general) would be wise to pass on this book.

Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Recommended for those looking for a dark read.

[Caley Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really, I want to rate this book a solid 3.6. Definitely entertaining, interesting, but I would say far from “thought provoking”. It was a quick read that definitely caught my attention consistently until I devoured the book in two days. I don’t think I’ve ever read a book from a serial killer’s perspective that made me feel quite as sorry for the killer in question. Truly a being so pathetic, you can’t help but pity him.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started out enthralled by this book; it's an insight into a world I never hope to encounter. Glynn paints the different characters of Crumb's multiple personalities vividly and clearly. That said, I think the ending was a little disappointing —I suspect I didn't quite understand it — and this took something away from what was otherwise a fascinating, if brutal, read.

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Peter, what a week. enough to drive someone insane. unless you are already there. Great read, found myself hating and loving Peter at the same time. i would have given it five stars but i found myself not liking the ending, i just thought Sunday was going to be a bit more, But after Saturday well i suppose it was asking a bit much.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

This started out intriguing and held my interest with all the disturbing violence. Once we start learning more about what happened in his past, I started to lose interest. It tried to be smarter than it was. The ending was pretty awful and didn't live up to what was expected. Honestly, this is a pass for me. It's pretentious, disturbing, graphic, and boring.

[Morgan Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!! A disgustingly tragic story of a man split in personality. Narrated from his perspective as he drives himself insane, taking a path of murder and crime his last 7 days before he offs himself. This book is not for the faint of heart as the story is very graphic. Fast paced and easy to read. Read at your own risk!

[Emily]

Awfully written book that would easily be marketed as 'The Seven Days of Peter Crumb - an extreme novel' now. Author seems to think that 'shocking' events one after the other is the same as coming up with a plot and well developed characters. DNF'd at 46 pages, 0 stars

This will be an excellent fire starter though

[Graham Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

As dark as I hoped. As unsettling as I expected. Couple of bits confused me a little due to the whole split personality thing going on and what happened and what did not, and what was simply due to the protagonist's psychosis.